Refugee student top entrant in technology school department

Among the tens of thousands of students in Greece who were accepted in higher educational institutions across the country on Wednesday was Julien, a 20-year-old immigrant from Africa.

Julien, who migrated from Africa to Greece at the age of 16 in November 2011, was accepted in the Electrical Engineering department of the Technological Educational Institute of Piraeus as the school’s highest test scoring entrant. He enrolled at the 1st Technical High School of Konitsa in Epirus in 2013 and graduated from the school with top marks.

At the time of his arrival to Greece he did not speak Greek and he attended Greek language classes at the end of his school day.

“I want to dedicate this success to my parents and siblings that are no longer alive,” he told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency and noted that his parents had pressed upon him the value of education.

Julien has been living at the Konitsa Protection Center for Adolescent Refugees since October 2012, after being held in custody in Evros for three months as an illegal immigrant and then living in Athens.

“I want to feel safe and have international safety according to the Geneva convention. I want to move forward and be useful and important to society. To give back as much as I can to Greece that helped me,” he said on his future and noted that he applied for asylum this past August.

The Greek media have not published any more details about the background and origins or the story of the young man.